Otter number 25 was delivered to the RCAF on 28th December 1953 with
serial 3670 and was
assigned to 121 Communications & Rescue Flight, based at RCAF Station Sea
Island, Vancouver, BC. Although its existence was brief, it was involved in
a number of rescues along the Pacific coast, including the search for USAF
F-86D serial 51-2987 which crashed on Grouse Mountain near Vancouver on 12th
February 1954, the Otter flying alongside two Expeditors and one Canso
from121 C&R Flight on that mission.
Otter 3670 was lost, reduced to ashes in fact, on the night of 29th April
1954 when fire destroyed Number Three hangar at Sea Island. Also lost in the
blaze were Otter 3676 (34), two Beech Expeditors, a Lancaster and a
helicopter. The following report is from the Vancouver Sun newspaper: “Air
Force authorities will hold an immediate top-level investigation into a $1.5
million fire that razed a huge RCAF hangar on Sea Island Thursday night.
Fire-fighters early today were still pouring water on the smouldering ruins
of No.3 Hangar, which caught fire shortly after 9.30pm and quickly developed
into a blaze that destroyed the entire building and its contents including
six aircraft, thousands of dollars worth of equipment, tools and airmen's
personal possessions”.
“Air Force authorities said they were mystified as to the cause of the fire,
which is believed to have broken out in on corner of the building, then
spread quickly along the rafters. A violent series of explosions shook the
burning structure as 2,000 gallons of high octane gasoline contained in the
planes fuel tanks were reached by the flames. At least one oxygen tank also
exploded, hurling pieces of steel shrapnel out of the centre of the
holocaust. Most of the thirty signal flares stored in the planes inside shot
out of the fire like sky rockets”.
“One of a series of explosions that ripped through the structure came
shortly after the blaze broke out, when the entire roof buckled and crashed,
sending showers of sparks and billows of black smoke mushrooming into the
night sky. Lost in the blaze were one Lancaster bomber, two Expeditors, two
Otters and one helicopter. Three Cansos near the hangar were saved. The
building was the headquarters for the RCAF's search and rescue operation,
and most of the planes destroyed were used for these operations”. 121
Communications & Rescue Flight moved to Dougherty Barn to continue its
operations from there.
History courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3
Otter: A History (2005)
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